Artists on dozers: ‘Shapers’ carve new landforms for Overton golf
“A golf course is a landscape sculpture,” said Rob Collins (right) of King-Collins Golf Design, with the “sculptor” Marc Burger (left), Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021 at Overton Park. (Brad Vest/Special to Daily Memphian)
Marc Burger, (left) shaper, and Rob Collins King-Collins Golf Design, talk about the renovation of the Overton Park Golf Course, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. (Brad Vest/Special to Daily Mempian)
Colton Smith (left), and Desi Isaacson use a solar pathfinder at what will be the fifth green of the renovated Overton Park Golf Course, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. (Brad Vest/Special to Daily Memphian)
“We’ll get it pretty much where you can eat off it,” Marc Burger said of the graded soil. “We work with percentages; we have to be able to grade to 1%, sitting on a bulldozer.” (Brad Vest/Special to Daily Memphian)
“Very fine grading,” Rob Collins (right) said of the work done at Overton Park by Marc Burger (left). “Marc’s grading is down to the inch, basically.” (Brad Vest/Special to Daily Memphian)
“The most fun part of golf course architecture is doing the stuff we’re doing right now,” Rob Collins (left) said. He goes over the details of the renovation of the Overton Park Golf Course with shaper Marc Burger, Feb. 4, 2021. (Brad Vest/Special to Daily Memphian)
Bulldozer tracks are seen inside what will be a sand bunker on the fifth hole of the renovated Overton Park Golf Course, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. (Brad Vest/Special to Daily Memphian)
Work continues near the fourth green at Overton Park Golf Course, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. (Brad Vest/Special to Daily Memphian)
The people designing the changes at Overton Park golf course — and those on the bulldozers — consider the entire landscape as one big sculpture, not nine different holes with spaces in between.
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Overton Park Overton Park Conservancy King-Collins Golf Course Design Subscriber OnlyThank you for supporting local journalism.
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Tom Bailey
Tom Bailey retired in January as a business reporter at The Daily Memphian, and after 40 years in journalism. A Tupelo, Mississippi, native, he graduated from Mississippi State University. He has lived in Midtown for 36 years.
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